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Digital Experience PlatformApplication · Liferay

CVE-2021-29038

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.2 / 7.3.6 or later.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Liferay Portal 7.2.0 through 7.3.5, and older unsupported versions, and Liferay DXP 7.3 before fix pack 1, 7.2 before fix pack 17, and older unsupported versions does not obfuscate password reminder answers on the page, which allows attackers to use man-in-the-middle or shoulder surfing attacks to steal user's password reminder answers.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Password reminder answers are displayed in plain text on the password reminder page in affected Lifer Portal and DXP versions, allowing man-in-the-middle attackers on the network or shoulder surfers physically near the user to capture these security question answers.

MitigationUpgrade to Lifer Portal 7.3.6+, Lifer DXP 7.3 fix pack 1+, or Lifer DXP 7.2 fix pack 17+ which properly obfuscate password reminder answers on the page.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Digital Experience PlatformApplication
Affected:< 7.2= 7.2= 7.3
Liferay PortalApplication
Affected:<= 7.2.1>= 7.3.0, < 7.3.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Lifer Portal or DXP version
    Locate the version file or check the control panel: for Lifer Portal check the bundle's portal-ext.properties or the Server Information in the control panel under Server > Server Information. For DXP, check the Digital Experience Platform version in the control panel.
    Affected if The installed version is Lifer Portal <= 7.2.1 or 7.3.0 to 7.3.5, or Lifer DXP 7.2.x or 7.3.x before fix pack updates.
  2. Verify password reminder feature is enabled
    Navigate to Control Panel > Configuration > System Settings > Security > Password Reminder or check portal-ext.properties for the key 'users.reminder.queries.enabled' set to true.
    Affected if Password reminder queries are enabled in the system configuration.
  3. Confirm security questions are configured for users
    Check if any user accounts have security questions set by reviewing user profile settings or querying the user_ by looking for entries in the relevant reminder query fields in the database.
    Affected if Users have security questions and answers stored in the system.
  4. Test password reminder page for plain text exposure
    Initiate a password reset flow and proceed to the security question verification page. Observe whether the entered answer appears in plain text in the response rather than being obfuscated with bullets or asterisks.
    Affected if The security question answer field displays the actual characters entered instead of masking them.

A user is affected if they run an unpatched Lifer Portal (7.2.1 or earlier, or 7.3.0-7.3.5) or Lifer DXP (7.2.x or 7.3.x), have password reminder queries enabled, and users with security questions can see their answers displayed in plain text during password recovery.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.2 / 7.3.6 or later
Fixed in 7.27.3.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Lifer Portal 7.3.6+, Lifer DXP 7.3 fix pack 1+, or Lifer DXP 7.2 fix pack 17+ which properly obfuscate password reminder answers on the page.

Recommended fix High confidence

LPortal 7.3.6+ or 7.2.2+ / DXP 7.3 FP1+ or DXP 7.2 FP17+

  1. 1. Identify your current LPortal or DXP version by checking the Control Panel > Configuration > Server Administration > Product Information
  2. 2. For LPortal 7.3.x deployments: upgrade to version 7.3.6 or later
  3. 3. For LPortal 7.2.x deployments: upgrade to version 7.2.2 or later
  4. 4. For DXP 7.3 deployments: apply Fix Pack 1 or later via LPortal Fix Pack Installer
  5. 5. For DXP 7.2 deployments: apply Fix Pack 17 or later via LPortal Fix Pack Installer
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the password reminder page displays obfuscated answers (masked with asterisks or dots)
Caveat Review custom portlets for compatibility with the target fix pack version before applying

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Digital Experience Platform Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-29038 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data